Folks…
In the HW division the early speculation was that this would be the day for the Badgers, but it ended with a sweep for the Brown Bruins in the HW 1V, 2V, and 1F taking the Rowe Cup in a dominant fashion.
Among the LWs it was once again very competitive with the Princeton 1V leading wire to wire. Yale took gold in the 2V and Cornell was first in the 1F. With medals in all three events — silver, bronze and silver — Harvard claimed the Jope Cup by 2 points over Princeton and Yale.
Winds lessened a bit in the afternoon, but there still were strong gusts with the middle 1,000 meters in the outside lanes still treacherous. Higher seeded crews from the morning heats had the advantage of the inside lanes and lee shore.
Folks…
In the HW division the early speculation was that this would be the day for the Badgers, but it ended with a sweep for the Brown Bruins in the HW 1V, 2V, and 1F taking the Rowe Cup in a dominant fashion.
Among the LWs it was once again very competitive with the Princeton 1V leading wire to wire. Yale took gold in the 2V and Cornell was first in the 1F. With medals in all three events — silver, bronze and silver — Harvard claimed the Jope Cup by 2 points over Princeton and Yale.
Winds lessened a bit in the afternoon, but there still were strong gusts with the middle 1,000 meters in the outside lanes still treacherous. Higher seeded crews from the morning heats had the advantage of the inside lanes and lee shore.
LW 1V – Joseph Wright Trophy – Princeton in lane 1 jumped out to an early lead taking 4-5 seats over Harvard in lane 2. Not a seat separated the remaining four crews — Georgetown, Navy, Yale and Cornell, in a pack another 3 seats back. By 1,000 meters, Princeton at 38 had moved 5 seats ahead of Harvard at 37 who had open water over Navy and the remaining crews. Navy began attacking mid-race and closed on Harvard who increased their rating to 38 in an attempt to hold off the Mids. At 500 meters to go, Princeton had moved out to 3/4 length over Harvard with Navy continuing to press. At the finish it was Princeton winning, 2.5 seconds ahead of the Crimson. The remaining crews crossed the line in two photo finish groups — Georgetown and Navy open water back of Harvard, with the Mids only 0.144 seconds [~2.5 feet] back of the bronze medal. Yale and Cornell were another 1/2 length back separated by 0.117 seconds. Navy, in lane 4, may have paid a heavy price for it’s attack on the lead crews in the 3rd 500, where the crosswinds and resulting chop were more intense in the middle of the lake. While you have to admire the “charge”, it is uncertain that the conditions negatively affected the results to the extent of the 4.5 to 7 second margin of the winning crews on the lee shore.
LW 2V – Cornell Trophy – Princeton moved out early and at 500 meters in, had 3 seats over Yale with a tight group of Harvard, Cornell, Georgetown and Navy following. By 750 Yale at 37 had pulled 2 seats ahead of Princeton with Harvard following and Navy moving through Cornell. At 1,000 meters Yale had 3/4 length over Princeton with Harvard, Cornell and Navy level, 3 seats back. By 1,500 meters Yale had increased their lead to open water and Princeton had fallen back to the pack – Harvard, Cornell, Navy, Princeton. At 250 meters to go Yale’s lead had been closed to 6 seats with Harvard and Navy battling for the silver. At the finish Yale was the winner with Navy trailing by less than a length [3.6 seconds] with Harvard in 3rd a deck [0.422 seconds].
LW 1F – Gary Kilpatrick Cup – At the start it was Cornell, Princeton and Yale with Harvard, Georgetown and Dartmouth following. At 750 in, Cornell had 4 seats over Yale, with Harvard another 2 seats back with Princeton trailing by just one more seat. At 850 in Yale in 3 began a challenge and by mid race they had moved ahead of the Big Red LWs. Cornell responded in the 3rd 500 and with 500 to go Cornell had 3 seats over Yale with Harvard trailing by a few seats more. At the finish the margin remained about the same with Cornell taking the gold by 1/2 length [2.1 seconds] over Yale who held off the Crimson Yardlings by 0.32 seconds, just less than a deck length. In the Petite Final, the Navy LW Plebes in the JEVA finished 8th overall, 1/2 length of open-water back of Columbia, and in an exciting finish less than a deck [0.25 seconds] in front of Penn who were 0.70 seconds [2+ seats] ahead of MIT.
In other LW finals, Navy took silver in the 2F. Yale was 5th. In the 3V, Yale took bronze, missing 2nd place Cornell by 0.046 or what I figure to be less than 1 foot — let’s call it a long bow ball! Navy trailed the Bulldogs by about 1/2 length, while finishing 4th.
HW 1V – Worcester Bowl – Rowing in lane #2, Harvard settling to a base rate of 38, got out to an early lead, followed by Brown, Wisconsin, Cornell, Northeastern and BU. At mid-race Harvard had taken 5 seats on Brown who had 2 seats on the favorites from Wisconsin. At 500 to go Brown in lane 2, began to move on Harvard and quickly it was a two boat match race on the lee shore as the Badgers seemed unable to answer. Harvard maintained speed and increased rate, but it was the Bruins who found another gear as they rowed through the Crimson and finished ahead by 4 seats [1.262 seconds]. Wisconsin finished another 1/2 length back in 3rd with Cornell, Northeastern and BU trailing in an over-lapping group open water behind the medalists. Navy seeded #14, qualified for the Petites by rowing through Princeton in the final strokes of the morning heat finishing 4th, 0.25 seconds ahead of the Tigers. In the Petite Final trailed for the entire race in lane #6, but moved in the last 100 meters to finish 4th, 10th overall. Unfortunately, IRA qualifications provide for the first nine crews from the EARC Sprints to row in the IRA HW 1V. Navy trailed #9 George Washington, by 1.142 seconds. After a disappointing last place finish in their morning heat, the Yale 1V, placed 3rd in the VH8 3rd Level Final, 15th overall.
HW 2V – Richard Glendon Trophy – Meeting the expectation of the seeds and with the lane benefit earned in the morning heats, Brown was a decisive winner, taking the gold and the trophy by a bit of open-water [4.042 seconds] over Wisconsin. BU Terriers finished in a surprising 3rd place, 2.3 seconds back of the Badgers. Princeton, Harvard and Cornell followed in the Grand Final. Yale 2V won the Petite Final finishing 7th overall and Navy finished 2nd in the Third Level 2VH8 Final, 14th overall.
HW 1F – Kenneth Burns Trophy – {not much detail here because the commentators in Worcester lost the play by play audio}. At the finish of the Grand Final, the two top seeds finished in reverse order with Brown leading Harvard at the end by 0.569 seconds – 3 seats. Cornell took the bronze medals finishing 2 lengths farther back. With the medalists coming from lanes 2, 3 and 1, respectively, Yale by virtue of it’s 2nd place finish in their morning heat was placed into least favored lane #6. According to folks on site, the Eli Frosh led the race through the first 1,200 meters until they were adversely affected by a gusting cross wind. The Yale boat, seeded #3, finished 6th, back but still in contact with Wisconsin and Princeton. In the F8 Petite Final, Syracuse took a 2 seat lead in the 1st 500 meters and went on to win the race by 1.04 seconds. Among the other crews it was a tough battle all the way with the lead among the trailing crews changing hands between Dartmouth, Navy, BU, Northeastern and MIT. While the spectators said the finish behind #5 ranked Syracuse was “too close to call”, the Navy Plebes ended up leading that pack for 2nd in the Petites and 8th overall. MIT was 0.47 seconds back of the Plebes with Northeastern another 1.0 seconds back of the Engineers, and Dartmouth a further 1 second behind in 5th, 11th overall. The Navy Plebes had strong race with a marked improvement of their earlier season race against Syracuse in the Goes Trophy, when they finished 6.5 seconds back of the Orange.
In other HW racing Yale finished 3rd and Navy placed 11th in the HW 3V 8+. In the 2F HW final, the Navy Plebes took 5th. Yale had no entry in this event.
Thoughts and Observations:
* While it is difficult to compare results of 2 separate races, the HW and LW 1V Grand Finals were rowed 25 minutes apart in the same conditions. Interestingly, Brown’s winning time in the HW 1V [5:41.363] would have been a near dead-heat with the winner of the LW 1V – Princeton [5:41.433] with both crews rowing in favored lane #1. By the same comparison, with both rowing in lane #2, Harvard’s HW 1V [5:42.625] was less than 1/2 length faster than the Crimson LWs over 2,000 meters [4:43.990]
* The Cornell Trophy for the winning 2V LW 8, is presented by the 1949 Cornell LW squad that won the American Henley, but was unable to row in the Henley Royal Regatta because their entry was received one day late. Carl Ullrich rowed in the bow seat of the 1949 Cornell LWs.
* On the HW side neither Yale or Navy qualified for the IRA National Championships {June 4 – 6, on Lake Natoma, in Sacramento, CA} and therefore the Yale Freshmen, who otherwise would have qualified with their 6th place finish, may not be able to row in the IRA. In the HW 1V at the IRA, there is a limit of 24 entries. 20 entries are allocated to finishers in six regional qualifying regattas, like the EARC Sprints. Therefore there can be at least four at-large bids. Navy will be hoping for an at-large bid based on their 10th place finish at the Sprints. If the Navy Men’s HW V8 is accepted by an at-large bid, there should be an opportunity for Navy Plebes to also be eligible for an at-large bid in the Freshmen 8+. This event is limited to 18 entries of which 13 entries are allocated to finishers in six regional qualifying regattas, like the EARC Sprints. Therefore there can be at least five at-large bids. While the Yale Freshmen “qualified” for the IRA by virtue of their 6th place in the EARC Sprints, IRA rules state that “acceptance of an entry is contingent upon acceptance of that school’s Men’s Heavyweight Varsity Eight.” Therefore the Yale 1V would need to receive an at-Large bid. This would seem unlikely, based on Yale’s 15th place result at the Sprints. However if the IRA considers the #9 seed at the EARC and Yale’s #12 national ranking in the most recent US Rowing Collegiate Poll, there may be some hope for the Yale HW 1V and therefore the Yale HW 1F. On the LW side, both Navy and Yale qualified and will be training for the next month for the LW National Championships. I am sure that the IRA will settle out the entries and we will all know more next week. Yale has “declared” an entry in the Varsity 4+. Because this event is “open”, all 17 entries, have been accepted. As of the final list published by the IRA on 5 May, Navy had not declared for this event.
So hopefully next up for some of the Blue Crews will be the 107th Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship Regatta. For Yale, it will be off to Gales Ferry and for Harvard to Red Top on the Thames River in New London, CT to train for the IRA as well as The Race — 144th Harvard-Yale Regatta on 13 June.
Included below is a summary of the day’s events on Lake Quinsigamond from Row2k and the reporting from Navy Sports. Women’s EAWRC is 17 May with NCAA Women’s Championships from 29-31 May, both on the Cooper River course in NJ. And just to make matters more complicated for IRA qualifying selection, the bulk of Sunday’s racing at the ECAC Invitational Regatta on the Cooper River was canceled due to weather and adverse conditions.
GO BLUE!
Cheers!
Best Regards,
Coach and TB406